Britain Increasing Economic Pressure on Judea and Samaria Jews

The British government has advised supermarkets to distinguish between Jewish and Arab products from the Judea and Samaria regions of Israel.

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Avi Yellin, 11/12/09 11:24 | updated: 11:28

Danny Dayan

photo: file

The government of Great Britain has begun advising its supermarkets on how to distinguish between Jewish and Arab manufactured foods from the Judea and Samaria regions of Israel. The British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), has recommended that food labels for products made in Judea and Samaria say either “Israeli settlement produce” or “Palestinian produce.” The labels are intended to increase pressure on Israel to surrender these areas and to result in the exulsion of all Jewish residents.

DEFRA, in keeping with Britain’s longstanding opposition to a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, said that traders would be committing an offense if they declared produce from these areas as “produce of Israel.”

Israeli officials and leaders of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria criticized the British government Thursday evening for the recommendation. Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor expressed fear that this was a slide towards a broader boycott of Israeli goods and called the move a matter of concern. “It looks like it [the British government] is catering to the demands of those whose ultimate goal is the boycott of Israeli products.”

Danny Dayan, who serves as chairman of the council for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, said the decision was the “latest hostile step” from Britain against the Jewish towns and villages in the area. He added that “products from our communities in Judea and Samaria should be treated as any other Israeli product.”

Yehuda HaKohen of the Zionist Freedom Alliance told Israel National News that DEFRA’s recommendation is nothing new and that Britain has always been one of the leading obstacles to regional stability in the Middle East. “It was the British who originally turned local Arabs and Jews against one another in order to further their own colonialist agenda for our region. And since Jewish freedom fighters succeeded in driving the British administration from our soil, they have been working tirelessly to undermine Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Britain is and has always been an imperialist power and an enemy of the Zionist revolution. Our leaders would do well to just accept this as fact.”